I seem to have been coming here on and off for at least the last 10 years and, bar a refit some years ago, it never changes; which is both a good and a bad thing.
The menu is almost unaltered over the last decade, and it felt a bit dated 10 years ago, and they’ve made little attempt to move with the times in terms of décor or staff – some of whom have worked there the entire duration of that period, but that does give it a consistency sadly lacking in many places.
You always know exactly what you are going to get, particularly if you’ve ever been to Il Bordello in Wapping as the menus are almost identical, and that is massive quantities of simple, unfussy food from a wide menu (all be it lots of variations on a theme e.g. around 25 different pizzas) at good value prices; around £12-14 for a main course, desserts at around £7 etc. If you want a pizza the size of a sports car wheel, or enough pasta to fill up an Olympic athlete preparing for a particularly strenuous training session this is the place – and it’s generally very good (I’ve often though the Pizzas were amongst the best I’ve had in the UK – though sadly they are still not like you get in Italy), but rarely, if ever, exceptional. If you want the latest tastes in innovative fusions then look somewhere else as you won’t get it here.
The staff are generally friendly and I think most of them seem to know me and many of my friends and family as it seems to be somewhere I’ve been with most of the people I know at one time or another.
Atmosphere is mixed; sometimes it’s packed out, other nights you can be one of very few. Summer is nice if you get to sit outside and try and catch some of the sunshine that is all too rare in the English summertime.
I’m sure I’ll be back again and doubtless it’ll be much the same as every other time.